Exceptional points for photon pairs bound by nonlinear dissipation in cavity arrays

Abstract: We study theoretically the dissipative Bose-Hubbard model describing array of tunneling-coupled cavities with non-conservative photon-photon interaction. Our calculation of the complex energy spectrum for the photon pairs reveals exceptional points where the two-photon states bound by nonlinear dissipation are formed. This improves fundamental understanding of the interplay of non-Hermiticity and interactions in the quantum structures and can be potentially used for on-demand nonlinear light generation in photonic lattices.